Sunrise and Sunset are magical times. Most people enjoy watching the sun slowly make its way above or below the horizon. We like to watch it, we feel relaxed. It puts a smile on our face.

Why? Maybe it has something to do with expectation of a new day or the close of the day that has just passed, but what we know for sure is that a low sun produces a beautiful soft light that is pleasing to our eyes and makes us feel good. The Golden Hour!!

Sometimes also called the Magic Hour, the Golden Hour is what a photographer calls roughly the first hour of light after sunrise and the last hour of light before sunset, but the exact duration varies between seasons and also depends on what scene you are trying to shoot. During these times, the sun is low in the sky, producing a soft, diffused light which is much more flattering than the harsh midday sun that so many of us are used to shooting in.

Light in the Golden Hour produces less contrast, reducing the chances of losing parts of your subject in strong shadows or blown-out highlights. The warm glow adds a pleasing feel to the scene, and the long shadows help to pick out details, adding texture and depth to the image.

In my series of images from Teignmouth Beach you can see how the sun rises and how the light goes from a cold blue light to a gold colour, and at the end, when the sun is high enough in the sky, the light becomes our normal daylight that we are so used to.

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I used my Canon 40D Camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release. I chose my Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens and set my camera on Av Priority with f/16 and ISO 100. I planned to bracket the images from -4EV to +4EV. I was ready to go with about 30 minutes to spare before sunrise so I waited for the sun to make its presence known.

You can see in the first couple of shots, when the sun is below the horizon, everything has a very cold (blue) feel to it. As the sun starts coming up you can see how the scene and the mood of the images changes. For each of the images you see, I took 9 bracketed shots that I post-processed through Photomatix 4 software to create these HDR images.

For a bigger slideshow of Golden Hour you can visit the Collection section of my website.

I hope that you have enjoyed this post and I would love to hear from you!

]]>karel@karelkuranphotography.com (Karel Kuran)BlogThu, 29 Aug 2013 11:27:05 +0000My Images exhibited in a local galleryhttp://karelkuranphotography.com/index.php/component/k2/item/13-my-images-exhibited-in-a-local-gallery
http://karelkuranphotography.com/index.php/component/k2/item/13-my-images-exhibited-in-a-local-galleryThings have been busy recently. I re-designed my website and now I’m displaying my images in a local gallery. This…

Things have been busy recently. I re-designed my website and now I’m displaying my images in a local gallery. This blog is about how I got involved with the gallery and what I had to do to be able to present my work to the public.

I have wanted to display my work in local galleries for a long time now but I never went any further than discussing it with my wife. One day Nicola (my wife) came back from town and put a business card in front of me. It was a card for the Blue Indigo Gallery http://www.blueindigogallery.co.uk. We go shopping there when we need a present for family and friends. They sell loads of beautiful products that are locally made.

When I asked why she has their card she replied “I spoke to them about your pictures and they are interested in having a look and possibly displaying and selling them for you” When I picked myself up off the floor I went to my computer muttering “Thank you” to Nicola on the way.

My head was buzzing with questions but I had very few answers for them. What images will I show them, what size of images do I want to display, what frames should I use; should I use any frames?? Where do I get mounts, backing boards and bags for packaging?

The first thing was to choose images that would impress them so they would agree to display my work. After a couple of hours I had a clear idea of which images to show them. I put an e-mail together and e-mailed them some of my images. Two days later I got an e-mail back from the Blue Indigo Gallery saying that they like my work and they would be interested in meeting me with the prints so we can discuss further plans.

I had to get things moving quickly at that point. The tourist season was just starting and I did not want to miss it. I had already selected the images that I would like to display so the next step was to send them to the printers, order frames and mounts (I decided that I would have some framed images and the rest will be in mounts with backing board and packaged in clear bags).

One week later everything was ready and I went to have a meeting with the gallery owner. The meeting went well and they agreed to display my images. I was very happy, as you can imagine. What made me even happier was the cheque that arrived in the post the following month from the gallery - they had sold some of my mounted prints!!!

If you find yourself in Teignmouth and you are wondering through town, go and visit the Blue Indigo Gallery in the town centre, where you can view a selection of my images. Alternatively, you can have a look at my online shop.

]]>karel@karelkuranphotography.com (Karel Kuran)BlogTue, 06 Aug 2013 14:29:03 +0000New Websitehttp://karelkuranphotography.com/index.php/component/k2/item/12-new-website
http://karelkuranphotography.com/index.php/component/k2/item/12-new-websiteAfter four years I decided that it was time for a new website. I liked my old website but there…

After four years I decided that it was time for a new website. I liked my old website but there were always things that I could not do or features that I could not have. I’m using Joomla open source CMS so that I can edit the website myself. I have stayed with it but I have upgraded to Joomla 3 (from 1.5, which is quite old now).

There were two main reasons for the upgrade:

1; I wanted to have an online shop where I could sell my images as prints

2; Smart phones and tablets! I wanted my website to be able to recognize and adjust itself for mobile phones and tablets.

Joomla 3 offered both features so one evening I went looking for a designer that could migrate/rebuild my existing website to Joomla 3. I put an advert on a freelance designer site www.Elance.com and I had a few offers in just a couple of hours (those guys never sleep!!). I picked a guy called Tim Lord http://www.timlord.co.uk/ from Newquay, Cornwall, UK. He proposed a reasonable price and had some great ideas on how to change the website but keep the theme and main features the same (just as I liked it).

We shook hands (not literally) on the deal and he went to work. Two days later I had a basic version of my site up and live on Tim’s server. It took a week or so of tweaking and adjusting to get the website done.

I spent the next month filling the website with my pictures and other items that had been published on my old site. Some of you who know my older pages might say that it is the same, but I can assure you that this website is much better. It might look a little similar but that was my intention. I like the design and I believe that there is a saying “if it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it!”

NOW the new features:

As I mentioned at the beginning I have an online shop. Customers can purchase my images right here and make a payment with super secure PayPal without any worries. It is worth having a look at my shop pages to see if anything catches your eye. I offer different sized prints, mounted or framed.

My website is now dynamic and will adjust to any medium that you are viewing it on. I really like that. It also does not contain Flash, so even Apple guys can see everything as it should be.

Blog is part of the website. This was not the case on my old site. I only had blogs on http://wordpress.org . That was good (and still is, as I’m still going to post my blogs there too) but I like to keep everything on my site.

Social media! You can now find Twitter and Facebook feeds directly on my pages as well as new blog feeds.

My portfolio changed and I’m still in process of working on it (I think that will always be the case).

So if have not done already, please have a look and browse my new site. I would love to hear what you think!